JUST WATCHED

Missing plane: 'Unprecedented event'

MUST WATCH

JUST WATCHED

Bad weather hampers missing plane search

MUST WATCH

Bad weather hampers missing plane search02:31

PLAY VIDEO

Petition letter

Earlier, the protesters had walked on foot from the Lido Hotel, near Beijing's International Airport, after police prevented them from boarding buses to the embassy. Many relatives have been staying at the hotel since the airliner vanished more than two weeks ago.

The protesters left the embassy on buses on Tuesday afternoon after a Malaysian official accepted a petition letter from the families.

The previous evening, Malaysia's prime minister announced that Flight MH370's last position was in a remote part of the Indian Ocean. Soon after, Malaysian Airlines informed relatives that the lives of all on board the plane had been lost. Relatives at the Lido Hotel screamed and sobbed after hearing the news.

The airline has already given family members $5,000 in compensation for each passenger aboard the ill-fated flight, and is preparing to make additional payments as the search continues.

"No amount of compensation or consolation will make up for any loss of life," Malaysia Airlines Chairman Mohamad Nor Yusof said Tuesday.

The company is working on an arrangement to fly families to Australia once wreckage is found.

Visa fees will be waived for the families of MH370 passengers and crew flying in to Australia, the country's defense minister David Johnston said Tuesday.

Texts criticism

Malaysia Airlines has defended its decision to inform the families by text message -- along with phone calls and face-to-face meetings -- that the flight ended in the Indian Ocean.

The airline's CEO, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, said Tuesday that text messages were used to ensure the nearly 1,000 family members "heard the tragic news before the world did."

China has asked Malaysia to share any evidence that led it to conclude the airliner crashed in the Indian Ocean with no survivors.